A summer fun. A lifetime of growth.

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Our Story

Camp Founder Steve Kessner knew giving children a new experience could change lives because that’s exactly what happened to him. Steve’s life reached an unexpected turning point when his father, a NYC taxi driver, had the good fortune of picking up a Dartmouth College alum. That chance encounter led to an Ivy League degree and a successful real estate career. Along the way, childhood summers at a bungalow colony in the Catskill Mountains were a formative experience and contrast to his familiar, working-class neighborhood in the Bronx. These transformations and imagination inspired by a literal and figurative change of scenery provides the background for Steve’s story to serves as inspiration to remove all financial barriers and allow all children to reach their potential and gain lifelong benefits from the camping experience. 

Our Impact

Staff Retention

90% staff retention rate among staff after 7 years. Many staff involved with us for 5+ years.

Success

One of only 3 non-profit camps to successfully launch in the last 10 years.

Several alumni report majoring in pre-veterinary studies or vet-tech programs because of the farm

Impact

2018 Hi Impact award winner for achieving double the growth in social-emotional learning metrics compared to other non-profits.

Focus

The only non-profit camp in NY that focuses exclusively on 14-18-year-olds (a population with historically low attendance rates).

With Your Help, We are Making The World a Better Place

Campers consistently report making healthy lifestyle choices because of camp and 80% of 2019 staff attend full-time four-year colleges. 

Our Mission & Approach

Steve’s Camp at Horizon Farms launched in 2010 on a beautiful working farm in Livingston Manor, New York with the dream of giving under-served New York City youth a free two-week summer camp experience designed to build healthy hearts, bodies and minds – and a new mindset that changes lives.

In addition to providing a free summer camp experience to inner-city kids from the five boroughs of New York City and beyond, we do year-round programming and assist with more than the camp experience, including college guidance and tuition options.

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